132 SIMARUBE^. 



4 



The first to give a good account of Jamaica quassia was John 

 Lindsay/ a medical practitioner of the island, who writing in 1791 

 described the tree as long known not only for its excellent timber, but 

 also as a useful medicine in putrid fevers and fluxes. He adds that 

 the hark is exported to England in considerable quantity — " for the 

 purposes of the brewers of ale and porter." 



Quassia, defined as the wood, bark, and root of Q. amara L, was 

 introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia of 1788; in the edition of 

 1809, it was superseded by the wood of Picrcena excdsa. In the stock- 



druo- 



1781 



as having cost 4s. 2d per lb. 



Description — The quassia wood of commerce consists of pieces of 

 the stem and larger branches, some feet in length, and often as thick 



as a man's thigh. It is covered with bark externally of a dusky grey 

 or blackish hue, white and fibrous within, which it is customary to 

 strip off and reject. The wood, which is of a very light yellowish tint, 

 is tough and strong, but splits easily. In transverse section it exhibits 

 mimerous fine close medullary rays, which intersect the rather obscure 

 and irregular rings resemblincj those of annual srrowth of our indigenous 

 \yoody stems, 

 size. In a Ion 



appears trans^^ 



the medullary rays! 



The centre is occupied by a cylinder of pith of minute 

 gitudinal section, whether tangential or radial, the wood 



itriated by reason of the small vertical height ot 



,. ^ exhibits certain blackish markings due to the 



mycelium of a fungus ; they have sometimes the aspect of delicate 

 patterns, and at others appear as large dark patches. 



Q 



Itr 



or 



raspings, the former being obtained in Ue manufacture of the B'm 

 tups, now often seen in the shops. 



Microscopic Structure— The wood consists for the most part of 

 elongated pointed cells (librif orm), traversed by medullary rays, each 



^Lr^^ ^ ^^ ^^^"« ^"ilt up of about 15 vertical layers of cells, ihe 

 smgle layers contain from one to three rows of cells. The ligneous rajj 

 thus enclosed by medullary parenchyme, are intersected by groups j^^ 

 t ssue constituting the above-mentioned irregular rings. On a lon£ 

 tudmal section this parenchyme exhibits numerous crystals of pxalat^ 

 aW^'^T^ "" x^ «°"^etimes deposits of yellow resin. The latter is mor 



abundant 



only solid matters perceptible 



Oxalate and resin are 



drus 



Chemical 



le lormula C'^H 

 quassiin is an h 



200 nflr+7^4?"'"''^' "^ ^^^^ Chloroform. It requires tor solution a j 



cZ^out^lT^!'' ^^* ^^ ^ot soluble in ether ; it forms an mso f^ 



compound with tannic acid. Quassia wood is said to yield about r^ 



(1837) 40, 



